Hunter: Mike Cockerham
Points: 16 (8L, 8R)
County: Macon
Season: 2020-2021
Hunt Story
I had this buck on my cameras all summer feeding on the 4S protein behind my house. He disappeared in late August, so I thought he had moved to another home area like he had done in years prior. There's a powerline that runs through my farm that dissects the hardwood swamp from a stand of 3-year-old pines that I planted specially to provide bedding cover because my farm was lacking some of that. I always leave the powerline right of way natural because it seems to keep the deer at ease when coming out onto it. I had seen a pretty good buck at daylight but decided to pass him because he was weak on one side. At approximately 8:25 a small doe came from the swamp and crossed over into the planted pines, I noticed she was acting funny... not really running just acting antsy, so I figured a buck was behind her... maybe 3 minutes later this buck steps out onto the powerline at 75 yards walking the same path as the doe. I didn't really recognize him until after the recovery, I just knew that he a a large deer with large antlers. I had a little trouble locating him at first but kept walking around and found him about 25 yards from the shot in the briars just inside the pines. When I noticed which deer it was I was grateful to finally take a buck that I basically raised on my farm for several years. He is a 5.5-year-old buck with 16 (possibly 18) scorable points as he had a lot of character and stickers due to the high protein that he fed on for several years. I am blessed to say the least!!!
